The present invention relates, in general, to toilet seats, and more particularly, relates to combination adult and children""s toilet seat assemblies.
Considerable effort has been directed toward the development of combination child""s and adult""s toilet seats. Such assemblies typically have the child""s seat pivoted to the same mounting assembly as the adult seat so that the child""s seat, with its smaller opening, can be pivoted down over and rest on the adult seat. Such assemblies also usually include a seat lid which can pivot down on top of both the adult and child seat. The child""s seat must also be pivotable to a raised, near vertical position at which it nests with, and is often retained by, the raised seat lid.
While such combined seat assemblies are known in the patent literature, commercial acceptance of the same has not been wide spread. Assembly bulkiness, or difficulty in mounting to the toilet bowl, or difficulty in removing the child""s seat assembly, or unsightliness have all contributed to lack of acceptability. Typical of the combined adult and children""s seat assemblies of the prior art are the devices shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,685,023, 5,448,781, 5,384,917, 5,363,509, 5,182,818, 4,516,279, 4,461,046, 3,609,775 and 2,221,991.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a combined adult and children""s toilet seat assembly in which the overall assembly is compact, aesthetically pleasing and functionally efficient.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a combined adult and children""s toilet seat assembly in which the children""s seat nests into the lid of the assembly in a very compact position and is highly stable in the raised position without the need for special detents or retainer devices.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a combination adult and children""s toilet seat assembly which may be easily mounted to the toilet bowl, can have the child""s toilet seat mounted to or removed from the assembly without the use of tools, and is easy to clean.
The combination adult and children""s toilet seat assembly of the present invention has other objects and features of advantage which will become apparent from, or are set forth in more detail in, the following description of the Best Mode of Carrying Out the Invention and the accompanying drawing.
The combined adult and children""s toilet seat assembly of the present invention comprises, briefly, a seat mounting structure formed for mounting of the seat assembly to a toilet bowl; a toilet seat lid pivotally mounted for pivoting of the lid about a first axis between a near horizontal position over the bowl and a rearwardly tilted, stable, near vertical position; and a children""s toilet seat pivotally mounted about a second axis forwardly of the first axis for movement of the children""s toilet seat between a near horizontal position superimposed over the adult toilet seat and a near vertical position tilted rearwardly into the seat lid by an amount greater than the rearward tilt of the seat lid. The assembly includes an adult toilet seat, and preferably the children""s toilet seat is releasably mounted to the adult toilet seat for pivotal movement by at least one, and preferably two, resiliently expandable gripper structures. Moreover, the adult toilet seat advantageously includes a plurality of upwardly extending, laterally-spaced flanges to which the child""s seat is mounted and which also provides a barrier resisting liquid migration toward the rear of the assembly.